Former CFPB Official Rohit Chopra to Scrutinize Student Loans at the Department of Education

Senator Warren says ED hit a home run with its new hire.

Rohit Chopra's career has taken him from the federal government, as student loan ombudsman at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), to the Washington-based think tank Center for American progress after a sudden departure from the CFPB last summer and now back to Uncle Sam. Chopra, a withering critic of the Obama administration’s federal student loan program, was hired by the Department of Education (ED) yesterday to work on borrower protections and what appears to be a renewed attempt to hold colleges more accountable for the taxpayer dollars they receive.

It's not yet clear what Chopra's title will be, but he seems to be stepping into a newly created position. Under Secretary of Education Ted Mitchell announced Wednesday that Chopra would be focusing on issues related to “enhanced protections for students, improved borrowers' service and strong accountability for institutions.” Mitchell also told ED employees that “Rohit’s experience in protecting borrowers and his expertise in financial services policy will advance and deepen that work.”

Chopra was a frequent of private student loan servicers. Servicers are the customer-facing link between borrower and lender, and the servicers hired by ED to collect federal loans have been accused of putting profits ahead of helping people get out of debt. Chopra was also a force behind the CFPB's lawsuits against Corinthian Colleges, which saw half its campuses closed in a bankruptcy filing and the other half acquired by Zenith Education, a subsidiary of Minnesota-based student loan debt collector ECMC Group.